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Firefighters ripped open the wall of an Evans home for sale Thursday after a fire started in the insulation.

A contractor was working on the air conditioning unit at a home on 4897 Somerset Drive at about 2:45 p.m. when the fire started, according to the homeowner Ryan Johnson.

The crew “sweated,” or heated up, an exterior refrigerant line leading to the air handler in the attic. The pipe got hot and started a fire inside the wall, Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue Batt. Chief Anthony Lovett said.

Columbia County authorities cited eight teens for underage drinking Tuesday at a house party in Evans.

Deputies arrived at a home on the 300 block of Barnsley Drive at about 12:30 a.m. in reference to a loud party and saw several people standing outside, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.

They were all underage and had been drinking alcohol.

The homeowner walked outside and asked for assistance in getting the other underage drinkers out of his home.

Three Evans residents were recently arrested in connection with an armed robbery in which illegal drugs and cash were taken from a home in the West Lake subdivision.

Columbia County authorities charged Joshua Lynn Westover, 23, of the 800 block of Bridgewater Lane, Woodrow Merril Meadows III, 18, of the 900 block of Deercrest Circle, and Andrew Lee Vowell, 16, of the 1400 block of Aylesbury Drive, with burglary, armed robbery and possession of a firearm during commission of a crime.

A search for a Harlem man reported missing on May 8 was called off last week after rescue workers were unable to locate the 65-year-old in a North Carolina national forest, according to a newspaper report.

Dennis Joe Boyd was reported missing to Columbia County authorities by his brother, who had traveled from out of town to Boyd’s Swint Road home, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.

The woman, Nancy Seitz, is a professional “sign shaker,” who does many kinds of advertising for businesses, including holding roadside signs and wearing costumes. She’s often seen waving signs in front of Mullins Crossing or for Maryland Fried Chicken in Evans.

Seitz was hired by Mosquito Squad to dance with a sign advertising the business on Fury’s Ferry Road at Park Lane.

Columbia County authorities are seeking a man who recently stole paint and marbles from the Evans Walmart.

A loss prevention officer for the store at 4469 Washington Road told sheriff’s deputies that on May 16 the man concealed four cans of spray paint and three bags of marbles in a book bag then exited without paying. When she tried to stop him, the loss prevention officer said he ran into the parking lot, got into a green Ford truck and fled.

Two people called authorities to Wildwood Park during the Memorial Day weekend claiming they were assaulted.

A 20-year-old woman said she was hit Saturday coming out of a bathroom at the park in Appling.

She said she went into the bathroom near the Point at about 10:30 p.m. When she came out, someone hit her in the back of the head. The woman said the next thing she remembered was sitting near the bathroom in the main boat trailer parking lot about 20 minutes later.

With the high school baseball season down to its last game, the Greenbrier Wolfpack fell into a deep hole they couldn't dig out of.Trailing 7-0 after two innings, they got to within 7-4. They eventually succumbed 14-4 in six innings to Loganville in the third game of the best-of-three-series to determine the Class AAAA state champion.Greenbrier head coach Chris Wilkins was handed the runner-up trophy after the game and he handed it to senior Jordan Hunt.